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It took a bit longer than I expected but I finally got the swing set put together. This thing is sturdy and build to last! I am so glad we went with a build it yourself model from the local lumber-yard vs a kit from one of the big box stores. We wanted one that could support everyone from our 10 month old all the way up to me. 🙂

Overall it took one full day of cutting and assembling and then a few hours here and there after work to put the finishing touches on it.

We had a super busy weekend. Along with Mother’s Day, we spent most of Saturday cutting, mitering, and nailing up some more trim pieces on the kitchen pass through project. More on that later.

And if we didn’t have enough projects going on, we finally settled on a swing set for the kids. Not just any swingset though. A real one that is going to require cutting before it can be assembled! No shortcuts here!

Ashley also spent a good part of her special day beautifying our front and back yards with this years flower selection.

A great weekend and we are looking forward to what the week will bring us.

We are making some good progress on the kitchen pass through project. Phase II is complete and we are now ready to begin the corner moldings. But first, here is a brief recap on how we got to where we are.

After removing the trim along the inside of the pass through along with the floor trim, we screwed 2×2’s onto each side of the wall. We wanted to make each column as close to a square as possible. Adding the 2×2’s got us quite a bit closer.

With the 2×2’s in place, we then moved onto the MDF. I purchased 3 sheets of 1/2″ 4’x8′ MDF from Home Depot and had the fine folks there rip them down to 2’x8’s sheets for ease of transport.

Cutting them at home was made much easier with my new Kreg Rip-Cut tool. If you do a lot of long cuts, this tool is a must have. What a life saver and so easy to use!

Anyway, we cut the MDF to size and hammered them to the 2×2’s using simple nails. Not perfectly square or pretty but since this is only the 1st layer, I am thinking it shouldn’t matter to much. At least I am hoping it doesn’t matter to much. 🙂

It is looking so much better already! The gap near the top of each column was supposed to be where a piece of trim would slide in but I screwed up the measurements and it should have been an inch lower.

I will have to cover it up and then think of something else. Oh well. It happens. 🙂

When we moved into our house over 2 years ago, we knew that at some point we wanted to remove the half wall that separated our living room from our dining room.

The problem was, we were pretty sure that its a load bearing wall and we really didn’t want to find out the hard way. So for two years it has sat there looking like it does. Being used as a bench, a road for hot wheels, and a shelf for storage.

Now the time has come to finally do something with it. After searching through our favorite project site (Pinterest) we decided to move our Island into the space occupied by the wall, add a bench and new table, and have a new seating area!

Here is our inspiration for the space.

http://www.decorpad.com/designers/Oxford-Development

We started out by tearing off the drywall. This to me was the scariest part because you never really know what you are dealing with until the drywall comes off.

Case in point, I was assuming the electrical cable was going to be running along the wall and could then easily move the outlet into the island. But nope! It was run up through the floor. 🙁

I also managed to flip the breaker when knocking the sheetrock off. Apparently the sheetrock loosened the outlet and allowed it to come undone. That caused a short in the line and the breaker to flip. Oops!

In order to the the wire over to the far side of the island, I proceeded to drill some small holes near the wall and got the electrical wire to come up through that.

We also removed the carpet and laminate flooring where the island would eventually sit.

After some dry fitting, we moved the island into its permanent home and ran the electrical line up into it. The guy at Lowes that helped me find the fittings I needed thought I was crazy going with the setup that I wanted. But with four kids, I always prefer to overdue the safety a bit to ensure that everyone is not exposed to anything that they should not be.

I had just enough wire to get to the outlet and even had to flip it upside down in order to make it work. But work it does!

For some ideas on space, we proceeded to move our dining room table and bench into the kitchen and it has stayed there since. We already love the functionality that this has brought into our home. For the longest time, if we wanted to eat in the kitchen, we had to do it at the island which in turn would only seat 2 people. The rest would have to stand. And even though the dining room is close enough, sometimes you just dont feel like making the move to such a formal space.

The pics below depict the island in its new home (without the top). Part II will showcase the building out of the side columns. Now things are going to get exciting!

Pinterest if full of posts from people using cabinet doors to make chalkboards. This post is no different but I thought I’d show you how I did mine!

I knew that for Christmas, I wanted to be able to give out something that I had made that I knew people would like. We, coincidentally, had quite a few of these cabinet doors in the garage from the kitchen we purchased off of Craigslist a few years back. That is where Pinterest came in handy and this project first took shape.

I started out by filling in any holes that I knew I wouldn’t be reusing for knobs later on. When the putty was dry, I proceeded to give the doors a good sanding and cleaning before painting. I, then, applied one coat of black paint to give some contract to the distressing process.

After letting that first coat of black paint dry, I gave it a few coats of my primary color. This is the same color I used on our nursery dresser. You will notice in the pictures that I didn’t bother to paint over the middle of the door because that will be painted with chalkboard paint anyway. Why waste paint if I don’t need to, right?

After two coats of the blue, I proceeded with the chalkboard paint. This was my first time using this paint so I opted to roll it on with a foam roller. I wanted the finish to be as smooth as possible and I knew a brush just wouldn’t give me the look I was going for. The roller worked perfectly.

With two coats of chalkboard paint on and dry, I started with my favorite part: distressing. I sanded the edges and tops a bit and then used glazed to really bring out the contrasting colors and textures.

The final step was to drill some holes for the knobs and attach. Since these were Christmas presents, the knobs were picked out with each gift receiver in mind. This made a great way to customize each gift for the person receiving it. 🙂

I was really happy with how they turned out and I know that everyone that received one, really enjoyed their uniqueness as well.

I love shopping Craigslist but I usually don’t buy most of the stuff that I want too. If the price isn’t too high, I tend to not want to drive all over to pick stuff up. I don’t have a truck or a trailer so most often, it takes me two trips to get things home in our SUV.

So when I came across the two pieces below for $25 and the location happening to be 1 mile from our home, I couldn’t pass it up. I emailed the guy immediately and picked up the pieces not long after. Both pieces for $25 bucks! Actually, the dresser for $25 and he threw the unmatching nightstand in for free.

In the original condition, the pieces were in good shape. The dresser was 100% real wood but was missing a handle. The nightstand was half wood/ MDF and had some water damage to the top that was usually hidden by a glass top.

Since winter was setting in fast, I opted to not do my usual 5 coat/color routine and instead, simply sanded and went straight for the primary paint. After a good sanding to help the paint adhere, I grabbed some left over paint from our kitchen cabinets (Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation) and went to work.

Don’t mind my messy garage.

I did three coats of this color, followed by a good amount of distressing and glaze. Distressing has to be my most favorite part. 🙂

The hardware that I used was left over from the kitchen cabinets that I did happen to also get on Craigslist a few years back. They looked good in their native color and condition so I just had to drill new holes in the drawers and attach them.

I was pretty happy with how they turned out. As a bonus, I was able to sell this set for $125. In the end, it was a nice little profit. 🙂

I just realized that I got so wrapped up in our Board and Batten project that I forgot to update the Door Jamb replacement job that I did! As stated earlier, I had to do this repair because the previous owners had used wood putty to cover an old metal plate and that plate was starting to show through. I was worried that it would cut someone coming into the house. The plate also pushed the trim out away from the wall which made it harder for me to finish the trim painting like I wanted too.

This is how the door looked with the main latch plate removed. It looks like they hand chiseled the hole larger at some point in time. To the right, you can see the plate that I was talking about earlier. Its pretty clear to see why I wanted it gone.

I started out by cutting out the entire section, door knob and deadbolt included.

I then cut a board to fit and drilled out spots for the deadbolt and door latch plates, drilled it into place and mudded over the seams.

The final step was to paint the patch as well as the rest of the trim. In this photo, you can see the seam pretty well. That is because I used a hammer to try and knock the latch plate into the wood a bit. I didn’t realize at the time, it would break my seam up. I have since fixed it and repainted and its no longer noticeable.

I am really happy with the way it turned out and it looks so much better than it did before. I realize that security was compromised a bit by the patch but we also have a solid storm door that is also always locked.

It’s done! It took awhile to complete as our schedules are really crazy right now but it’s done and we are very happy with how it turned out. I will be writing up a full tutorial as time permits but for now, I just wanted to get this out there for all to enjoy. 🙂

Slowly making some progress on our coat wall. Purchased 2’x4′ sheets of MDF at Home Depot so its taking a bit longer to put up and I have to actually cut each piece before I nail it to the wall. I’m also applying some wall compound to the edges in order to help with the painting process. I really hope to have all the wood up by the end of the weekend.